


Family Matters

by Miraphina Atherton (mew_tsubaki)



Category: NCIS
Genre: Family, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, but spoiler-free for s18e9 dw, cameo from an OC, set after s18e7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-21 21:29:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30028128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mew_tsubaki/pseuds/Miraphina%20Atherton
Summary: Vance makes a detour on his way home.
Relationships: Leon Vance & Jimmy Palmer
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Family Matters

**Author's Note:**

> The NCIS characters belong to Donald P. Bellasario, not to me. A missing moment I felt was necessary given Jimmy's circumstances. ;w; Read, review, and enjoy! *Note: This is set after s18e7, "The First Day," so some major spoilers ahead.

Most of the ride had lapsed in silence while Vance thumbed through files in the back seat. Yes, he could've left this work at the office, but the action gave him some peace of mind, had done so in the time since NCIS had been attacked and rebuilt all those years ago as a consequence of Dearing's machinations.

However, tonight the files served as a distraction. Every time Vance reached the bottom of the stack, he came back to the pale sticky note with an address he'd scribbled down from a personnel file. He had dates of future meetings with department heads and agents' case summaries for near trial testimonies memorized because he'd gone over his work files that many times without making up his mind yet about the address on the sticky.

When the SUV rolled to a stop at a light, Vance picked up his head and caught a street sign out of the corner of his eye. He didn't have long to decide; he'd be dropped off at home in ten minutes or less. That realization was enough to spur him to hand his driver the address. "Clinton, change of plans. I'd like to stop here first before going home."

Special Agent Lehrer raised his eyebrows and met Vance's stare in the rearview mirror. "Director?"

"I know it's in the opposite direction. My apologies for not speaking up sooner, especially on a Friday night."

"No, sir. Just a good time to let me know—I'll take the left here instead of the right," Lehrer replied with a nod.

Vance sorted through the files one last time but without looking through them. He put them away and allowed himself to sightsee on the way to his destination, though it was hard to enjoy the half-emptied streets of the suburbs while his mind swirled with ideas of what to say.

He didn't have much time to decide if this were a good idea. From that light, it was only a few more minutes, and then Lehrer pulled up to a street that seemed so…picturesque and detached from the ravages of real-world events. These were houses that people put on postcards and Christmas cards and yards that neighbors frequently crossed as though they were family.

Lehrer drove to the address and rolled to a stop. But when he made to get out and assist Vance, Vance held up a hand. "Thank you, Clinton, but I've got it from here."

"But, Director Vance—"

"I'm not in danger here, Special Agent Lehrer," Vance insisted as he exited the vehicle. "This is the home of one of our own," he added before he closed the car door behind him.

Vance walked up the pathway. It was short, made up of smooth paving stones, and it led to a tiny deck that aspired to be a porch. In that way, Vance thought the house echoed Gibbs' and Dr. Mallard's styles—appropriate, Vance mused, considering the homeowner admired them.

He reached the door and pressed the doorbell, but nothing sounded. It took Vance a moment to realize in the last light of day which evening was pushing off that the doorbell wasn't lit up and therefore might not be working, so he tried knocking next.

The voices inside hushed to a low mumble. Footsteps shuffled, and somewhere inside a child yelled at the top of her lungs, "IS THAT GRAND-DUCKY?!"

Vance snorted and stifled a smile. He took a step and a half back, allowing for extra space on the deck when the door unlatched and revealed the home's bespectacled owner. "Good evening, Dr. Palmer."

Palmer's eyes were wide behind his askew glasses. "Director Vance! I wasn't expecting— Did you want to come insi—" He froze with his hand gripping the doorknob. "Wait. Did something happen? Oh, God, something bad enough that the director of NCIS himself would come fetch me personally—"

"Jimmy," Vance interrupted. "Nothing bad happened, I assure you. You needn't look so green."

"Oh." Palmer chuckled, swallowed what sounded like a wet sob, and nodded. "Okay. Good. Good." Then he straightened his glasses and furrowed his brow. "Then, uhh…"

Vance glanced at the two chairs Palmer had on his deck, one to Vance's left by the mailbox and one to his right. He gestured for the two of them to sit. "I wanted to have a chat," the director said. "I won't keep you long."

Palmer mustered up a mousy grin as they sat. "Oh, you heard Victoria? Sorry about that. Dr. Mallard's been over as much as he can, but it's hard for her to understand she can't play the way she used to, so usually they sit out here." He patted the armrests of the chair in which he sat. "In these chairs. He reads to her or tells her one of his more kid-friendly stories. …it's been a year, but it's hard to explain to a six-year-old that's the safest way to see her Grand-Ducky right now," he finished quietly.

Vance nodded. He hesitated to bring up his intended topic, even though Palmer had provided a good enough possible segue.

"Director."

Vance raised his eyebrows, but Palmer was staring at the welcome mat before the front door. He was eerily still. Stiff, rather.

"…I'm fine now."

Vance stared at him long enough that Palmer had to force his head up and meet his eyes.

Palmer's smile was brittle, his voice soft. "Well, 'fine' isn't the right word. But…holding that memorial ceremony for Breena…it helped. Really, it did. That and the poem you gave me when she passed—they've helped. So, if you're here to stress again that I take my full bereavement leave, then—" He winced. "Please don't. Please…let me do what I love and be around the people I love."

"I'm not here to suggest that or even order that, Jimmy."

"Oh." Palmer's shoulders slackened in relief.

In the ensuing silence, Vance attempted one more time to sort his own thoughts. Mostly, the idea that he gave the impression of favoritism towards Gibbs' team and Forensics and Autopsy lingered towards the forefront of his mind…but he easily reconciled that with the fact that, given the last several years, his life was rather irrevocably entwined with theirs.

It hit him, the irony. Losing family but finding, gaining family in the process.

"I'm here to—to say you have my empathy, Jimmy."

"O—" The syllable caught in Palmer's throat before it fully emerged. He closed his gaping mouth. "Thank you, Director." He gave a wet chuckle. "Between you and Gibbs, I…"

Vance shrugged. "You have a lot of ears surrounding you, ready to listen. That offer wasn't revoked once you held her memorial." He glanced at the SUV, made certain Lehrer wasn't growing antsy with how long Vance was stretching his visit. "And Gibbs is a good man, a good friend to lean on. I should know."

Palmer nodded.

"But…you still have Victoria left, Jimmy. And six or sixteen—there will be questions that you still won't have the answers to, and I am…proof that you can survive that and survive past that."

Another moment of silence passed between them. A bird twittered in the neighbor's yard, but Palmer didn't let the noise jar him. He eventually asked, "…did it help that Kayla and Jared…had each other when Mrs. Vance…?"

Vance rested his elbows on his knees as he replayed that period of his life in his mind's eye. "I think so. Maybe because they were siblings. Maybe because they could team up occasionally and be angry at me together." He turned his head Palmer's way. "But your mother's living with you now, and Breena's father is often over, correct?"

Palmer nodded. "Uh, yeah! Yeah, yeah, everyone's—the rest of our family's been great, actually."

"Then you're in good hands, Jimmy. Victoria will be all right, even on the days when you doubt yourself."

His smile faltered. "How…?"

"Because I've been there."

Palmer nodded sheepishly.

"If I can impart one piece of advice," Vance added as he stood up and Palmer followed suit with a quick nod. "Learn from my mistake and be present. It's one thing to love your work and your NCIS family, but don't make me order you home at five-thirty sharp every night, Dr. Palmer." He pointed sternly with his last remark, holding his tone long enough to scare the medical examiner before the director decided to ease into a small smile, which Palmer returned.

"I hear you loud and clear, Director," Palmer said as he followed Vance partway down the footpath. "Actually, how _are_ Kayla and Jared these days?"

Vance stuffed his hands into his coat's pockets and shook his head. "They're well, studying remotely at home. Kayla's in her fourth year at Georgetown. …she was an adult before I knew it, Dr. Palmer, and Jared's not far behind her."

Palmer nodded. "'Be present'—I will take the advice to heart."

Vance tipped his head to him. "Good. I'll see you at the office then, Dr. Palmer. Have a good night."

"You, too, Director Vance."

Vance turned to go, but he'd barely gone three steps when Palmer piped up.

"Um, Director!"

Vance turned partially back to Palmer.

Palmer frowned. "If… Say I have—have one of those days. Like you said. Where I doubt myself." His furrowed brow pinched together as though he were in physical pain, and his eyes were wet, as if his trials and tribulations were too fresh and new.

Vance read between the lines. He took a few steps back to Palmer, and he patted his shoulder and then his cheek, as though Vance had Jared, not Jimmy, before him. He pointed again at the other man. "Then you make your way to my office, and you lean on your NCIS family, Jimmy. Every last one of us."

Palmer nodded, more firmly, confidently, this time.

Feeling accomplished in this visit, Vance offered up one last, tiny smile before returning to the SUV. He was glad Lehrer didn't pipe up in curiosity over the stop, and Vance held on to his good mood as he went over his exchange with Palmer in his head.

There was some good, sincere advice he'd given. …so, he decided to follow it, and he texted Kayla and Jared both to set aside their studies for tonight and pull out the ingredients to make their mother's meatloaf, which the three of them would make together as soon as he got home.

Losing family but finding, gaining family in the process.

Holding on to family and remembering family in the good times as well as the bad.

These were the lessons that Vance had to offer Palmer. And, just as everything else to do with family, they were lessons best learned together, not alone.

**Author's Note:**

> So…not a secret, but I've never rly talked before about how big a Vance fan I am. :3c So I'mma gush a lil' now. I rly enjoy the Vance family, was heartbroken when Jackie was killed, worried when Leon had the health scare, have worried for Kayla and Jared, etc. I just. I'm kinda missing Vance fam content rn, too, in s18 (srsly? Where is the mention? Of his kids? Bc Kayla rly would be 22 at this point, holy crap :O). ANYWHO! When "The First Day" aired and we all had our hearts broken bc wtf, don't get me wrong—I love scenes of Gibbs being fatherly towards all the young ones…but htg Jimmy's situation has a lot more in common with Leon's, and I had the desire to write this exchange, bc of that and also bc Leon is deffo agency mum to Gibbs' agency dad status. So having Leon basically console Jimmy over these shared experiences, like family, just hits all the right feels for me. (And I hope my muse is done with "The First Day" bc I sure af am, *lol*.) [Also, yes, I know Kayla was younger than sixteen when Jackie passed; Leon's "six or sixteen" remark was less about accuracy and more about how a kid's age doesn't make it any easier to handle his and Jimmy's situation. *hugs them both*]
> 
> Last note: I actually had this fic completed and ready to go a week in advance of posting…which also meant it was complete before the airing of s18e9, "Winter Chill." While this fic is set before that and therefore is spoiler-free, I did decide to make a tiny amendment and include an Easter egg for my fellow primetime viewers, bc I was happy there was an acknowledgement of Leon being a good agency mum in the wake of things this season. -w-
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review! Check out my other NCIS fics if you liked this.
> 
> -mew-tsubaki :')


End file.
